To end all wars: A week on Iona 14-20 June

Helen Steven is a member of the Iona Community and Kinlochbervie & Stoer Meeting, North Scotland Area Meeting

‘Where on earth would you get such a mixture of rich experiences: roleplay, craft, graffiti, and worship in between?’

‘Unbearable, fun, constructive ideas of something to do.’

‘I never imagined I would be singing “Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag” at the top of my voice in the Chapter House of Iona Abbey.’

These are some of the comments made by people who took part in a programme held at the Iona Abbey and Macleod Centres in June on the theme ‘To End All Wars’. In my first attempt to describe this week I produced a fairly mundane day-by-day account of the programme. Then I realised that something much more profound and unexpected had happened.

I was leading the week with Steve Whiting, a long-time colleague and friend in our work for nonviolence, working with the Quaker Peace & Social Witness Turning the Tide programme. Obviously, our focus was on commemorating the pain, suffering and sacrifice of the first world war; but it also included reflections on all wars and our endeavours to work for peace. It was necessarily a hard topic and some of it was, indeed, ‘unbearable’, but as is the way in Iona, our programme was very varied and creative. We studied and discussed some pretty harrowing first-hand material from diaries, letters and posters from the first world war; we participated in a hilarious roleplay which revealed a great deal about disinformation, propaganda and the many dilemmas of conflict; we sang songs of war and peace, and we listened to a fascinating presentation on the effects of world war one on composers and musicians. And, of course, we talked, argued and discussed. All this amid the beauty of Iona in the best of summer weather. As one participant said: ‘The island itself creates safety and the possibility of being open and vulnerable.’

It was this openness and vulnerability which enabled one of the finest sessions of the week. On the Wednesday night we gathered around very informally in the Macleod Centre Common Room, seated on chairs and cushions for a storytelling session. There was no set order, but as each personal story or memory of war was told, others followed naturally and a pattern emerged. People shared their experiences at a very deep level and we were all profoundly moved.

For our last day we moved onto suggestions for practical peacemaking and ended up with a very creative list of ‘fifteen action points for peace’. We also asked the group to come up with the main points for this article. And this is where the unexpected happened for me.

It was obvious from the feedback that the most significant experience for all of us had been the deeply personal sharing of stories. One after the other the phrases reflected certain themes: ‘conversations’, ‘trust’, ‘inner dynamic’, ‘mixed international group’, ‘learning from each other’ and, again and again, ‘building relationships’.

I realise now that I had gone with an agenda. I am an impatient, impulsive and often hasty activist and I think I was looking for some sort of blueprint of radical action to end all wars (what an optimist!). What the group came up with seemed to me to be rather vague and fluffy. So, I tucked it away for future reference.

Then I came across an article on ‘Practical Peacemaking’ in the Friends Quarterly. In it the writer laid out five principles of peacemaking:

• Peacemaking is nonviolent

• Peacemaking is inclusive

• Peacemaking is a process

• Peacemaking is a practical activity

• Peacemaking is a relationship

The author went on to say: ‘Managing conflict peacefully and sustainably means transforming relationships at all levels of social contact from our close personal relationships to the sharing of our planetary home.’

It was time to fish the comments down from the shelf. And there it all was – phrase after phrase echoing the theme of the article: ‘Building relationships is the key component of building peace’. There it was on our fifteen points, all emphasising building trust and good relations, from parish councils, to mosques, to ISIS and Al Quaeda. There was nothing fluffy about these recommendations. The challenge was to carry them out. This is why it was important that on our last day we spent time in silence writing a promise to ourselves of finding some way, however small, that each of us could work to ‘end all wars’.

I pin my hopes to quiet processes and small circles in which vital and transforming events take place

Rufus Jones
Quaker faith & practice 24.56

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Comments

I’m not a Quaker, but a Congregationalist, though very interested in Quakerism. Today, being Remembrance Sunday I chose to wear the traditional red poppy,(respecting the pain and suffering and sacrifice of many during past and current conflicts) but I also wore the white poppy as I feel we need to do much more to promote peace, that war is not the way forward and will never result in true peace. Thus I was very interested in your article. As a former Occupational Therapist, I know that unless I have established a good rapport with a person, I will not be able to help them. A person needs to feel cared for and understood. I therefore agree that relationship is the foundation which peace can be built on. I think,like most people,I am drawn to those people who are most like me. In order for me to more actively promote peace,  maybe I need to take myself out of my comfort zone and aim to meet and establish friendships with people from different cultures/ traditions, understanding their ways of viewing the world and gaining the right to share my own. Thanks for challenging me.

By Nikki on 9th November 2014 - 19:49

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